A space capsule graveyard

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A space capsule graveyard

3 min

I have always been intrigued and attracted by anything that’s related to space. So, once upon a rainy night I opened the door of an enormous hangar, and a small space capsule graveyard appeared before my eyes.

Space capsules are used for delivering loads back to Earth. For the most part, astronauts or data from recorders travel in them.

They come in different shapes and sizes, apparently depending on the purpose and type of the spacecraft they are attached to.

This is what one of them looks like on the inside. Not spacious at all..

A part of a Progress spaceship.

This is an approximate depiction of a capsule”s descent.

Besides the capsules, there were other objects of an unknown purpose in the hangar.

A Vertical rocket. Vertical was a series of Soviet geophysical rockets designed to participate in an international cooperation program for outer space exploration and use.

There were also mock-ups of various spacecraft parts. The framework of this one was made using metal honeycomb sheets.

Taking photos was very tricky because everything was put into a single huge pile that you had to climb while carrying a tripod. In this photo you can see a part of a Soyuz spaceship.

In this drawing you can find the part of the Soyuz from the picture above.

We also came across some equipment.

There is a device unknown to me in the center of the photo, covered with a case.

The same device, only closer. It was impossible to take its picture from a different angle.

This spacecraft has autographs on it, and apparently, it was the austronauts who left them. One of the LJ users, v1adis1av, has suggested that this is a capsule of the Soyuz TM-32. Three cosmonauts have been in it: Victor Afanasyev, Claudie Haigneré and Konstantin Kozeev.

Inside one of the capsules.

Another curious space-related object.

All of the insides are dismantled.

This is quite a sad sight. If these spacecraft are kept this way, does it really mean that nobody needs them anymore?